


Intermezzo con Gattini

by lirin



Category: Oxford Time Travel Universe - Connie Willis
Genre: Cats, Gen, Just Add Kittens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:19:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29425887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lirin/pseuds/lirin
Summary: Busily trying everything they can think of to get their missing historians back, the team takes a break to pet a few kittens.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Intermezzo con Gattini

**Author's Note:**

  * For [quae_bookmarks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/quae_bookmarks/gifts).



"I thought kittens weren't supposed to be in the lab," Kivrin said as Ned and Verity walked in. Disregarding her own statement, she took one of the kittens out of the box and started petting it.

"Funny enough," Ned said, setting the mewling box down on the table, "ever since the net stopped opening, everybody stopped caring as much about enforcing all the rules."

Badri looked up from where he was seated at the console, running through their latest spreadsheet of potential coordinates with Linna. "I certainly don't care. Just make sure it stays away from the net in case it does suddenly magically open."

"You don't need to call it magic," Ned said. "We've all put in so much hard work, if it opens we can blame it on that."

"Yes, well, the work hasn't been enough, and I don't know if it's going to be," Badri said. "If something happens to get the net to open, I don't care if it's the space-time continuum or infinite monkeys typing the works of Shakespeare or a kitten getting loose or just plain magic, as long as it opens."

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," T. J. mused. He had been showing Colin how to run the sim program (the first thing he'd done weeks ago when the net stopped opening was to build a new sim centered around the absent historians' last known spatial-temporal locations) but now he set his lightpen down and did something on the keyboard that made the entire bank of stack screens go dark. "If the kittens are here, we might as well take advantage of their presence."

"That's why we brought them," Verity said. "Something about how all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. I wouldn't mind if it only made our _personalities_ dull, but as we've been working and worrying over the last few weeks, I've noticed that my mind's getting sluggish. Not time-lag slow, but still tired."

"Less likely to make connections and put the pieces of the puzzle together that we need," Ned added. "So Verity and I decided that we all need a kitten-filled break to clear our heads."

"If it helps, then maybe Badri was right," T. J. said, taking the gray kitten that Verity handed him and scratching it between the ears. "Maybe kittens _will_ help us get the net open."

"Just preferably not by getting loose," Badri said. "I'm fine with bending the rules but I've had enough cats go through the net without permission to last me a lifetime."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Verity said with a smile, shoving a tortoiseshell kitten into the arms of Colin, who was the only kittenless person still at the table.

"Just yell 'you have permission to enter the net' as it crosses the room and then you'll be fine," Colin said.

Verity picked up the box of kittens—now with only two left—and walked over to the console, where she held it out to Badri and Linna. "See? That's the sort of out-of-the-box thinking we wouldn't be getting if we hadn't brought kittens around."

"Feel free to move on to more useful out-of-the-box thinking any time," Badri said, but he didn't seem particularly bothered. He took the kitten that Verity held out to him and settled it on his leg, petting it with one hand while he tapped at the console with the other. "I'm not going to be able to type very fast like this."

"That's why I'm not trying to type at all," T. J. said. "Ned's right, we all need to clear our heads. Those coordinates will still be there when you get back to the console."

"We're working with time travel," Kivrin said, "and it's not as if we have a real-time drop locked in at the moment. A few hours more or less here doesn't make one whit of difference on how much time is passing in the 1940s."

"I suppose you have a point," Badri said, carrying the kitten over to the table where all of the others were already sitting. "So are we just going to sit around and pet kittens? Please don't tell me we're going to have a singalong."

One of the kittens mewled and Verity giggled. "Only if the kittens know how to sing, because Ned doesn't."

"You said I sang perfectly well on that drop to—" Grinning, Ned yelped as Verity elbowed him in the side.

"We don't talk about that drop," Verity said. She was blushing, and didn't seem inclined to explain why.

"I bought card games," Ned said quickly. "I'm not sure how well they'll work playing one-handed with a bunch of small mischievous animals running about, but we might as well try."

"All work and no play, huh?" T. J. said, moving the piles of books in front of him off of the table and onto the floor. "At this point, I'm willing to try anything."

Everybody nodded (except for the kittens, but they were all purring contently, so apparently they were in agreement too).


End file.
